Road to damnation
by ninjadragon5
Summary: the town of dirt ends up being caught up in a battlefield between angels and demons and the only one that must stop it is rattlesnake jake? plus jake has a secret no one knows about. sequel to origin of a killer!
1. Ch 1: the paved path

Road to damnation

Chapter 1: The paved path

There is a tail that as be told from the darkest depths of the pit of hell. There is a being that has come to the mortal world from the inferno, fulfilling a deal he has made with the devil himself to seek out the souls of those that have done wrong and need to be punished, to avenge for those that cry out to him for they have lost. It is either a servant of heaven or hell; it is neutral to both realms, this being exists for only one purpose and one purpose alone, to seek vengeance. It does not care who it hunts, man, women or child, if you have done something terribly wrong, it will find you. It kills whoever it hunts without regret or remorse, just does the job that is needed to be done and no more. It is said to be a spirit manifested from only hatred, revenge and madness. To this day it continues to wander the earth, seeking and hunting whoever as it coming to them.

It is the spirit of vengeance.

The sun shined high in the sky over a vast chasm of many cliffs and spares that seemed to stretch for hundreds of miles and craved deep into the earth, so deep it seems to go into the core of the earth itself, sculpted my thousands of years of water eating away at the stone and rock, it was a vast open scar on the earth's surface, one so great it could from the heavens above. It is one of the great mysteries of the natural world, the Grand Canyon.

Amongst the massive landscape of rock and stone, stand two figures stood on a high cliff, from far way they are nothing more than insignificant specks in the grand vastness of the chasm, but upon looking closer upon them, one would notice they are not from this world. One of the two figures stands upright on top legs, even though its legs are more animal like then human. Its torso and arms are more human like, however it bears the head shape of a wolf. The being is dressed in silver armor from shoulder to toe that is embossed with golden markings all over it, so shiny it could blind a person from the sunlight reflecting off it just right. The most disguising feature the being had was it had two massive bird like wings spouting from its back that were the color of pure white. The other being was an avian creature, a rather large eagle whose feathers were also the color of pure white, and also wearing the same kind of silver and gold armor on its head like a helmet and pieces of it around its feet and talons. The two angelic figures just seem to stand at the edge of the cliff in silence admiring the spectacular view in front of them.

Finally, the white eagle breaks the silence and speaks out "Daniel, what is the meaning of this? Why are we meeting here, among these stupid little mortals?"

"Because sometimes, elder brother, I like to admire our lord's work here in the mortal world." the anthro wolf being said back as he continued to look out on the horizon.

"But were not here just to admire the scenery, are we?" said the white eagle back.

"Unfortunately no, they are things I need to discuss with you. Malachi, how could you let things get this far?" the anthro wolf said turning towards the eagle with an angry scowl on his face

"Not now, Daniel." said the white eagle.

"Legion is now lose here on earth, do you understand what this means? Can you even begin to imagine the trouble this could cause, not to mention the havoc he'll wreak on this mortal world?" the anthro wolf continued to speak.

"I'm well aware of that, all the more reason to get started…" the white eagle started to speak.

"There are hunters out after him already, they sent Bloodwar, and so our side sent Ruth. God help this desert valley once those two get going." The white eagle continued to speak turning his head to look out on the horizon.

"But I'm afraid even they are not enough to stop of what is to come." said the anthro wolf.

"What do you suggest then?" said the white eagle as he turned to face the anthro wolf again.

"Have you heard of a fellow named Rattlesnake Jake?" the anthro wolf said.

"Who?" the white eagle said in puzzlement.

The anthro wolf let out a long sigh and said "pin your ears back, it's a long story."

"Several years ago, a young rattlesnake by the name of Jacob saw his whole family murdered in front of his very eyes by bounty hunters; he was the only one to escape the massacre. From that day forward he swore revenge on those that had taken his family lives away. Eventually he joined a gang that promised him he would get his revenge and over the years he and the gang paved a bloody path in search for those that Jacob wanted to kill. But it was not to be, Jacob soon meet his own death by unfortunate circumstances. Naturally, he was sent to hell because of the deeds he had done, but the devil made him an offer, to send him back to the mortal world to fulfill the revenge he desired, but in return he would have to seek out people and sent their souls to hell for him. Of course, the rattlesnake accepted the offer and immediately sold his soul to the devil." the anthro wolf explained.

"I'm sorry, this is who you found to help us?" said the white eagle sarcastically.

"Bear with me." The anthro wolf said back.

"Not only did the devil give him his life back, but give him god like powers to make his job a lot easier. His job was not just to seek out any mortal souls, but ones that had committed a sin and need to be punished. Also for those that wanted vengeance on another for what they had done, he would answer. Over the years, his lust for vengeance grew and eventually turned him into some kind of super-powerful hellspawn. From then on, Jacob became the spirit of vengeance. Every so often he turns into the monster he has become and let me tell you, life is no bed of roses when your body is on fire half the time, yet he endures" The anthro wolf continued to say

"What kind of powers are we talking about here?" said the white eagle.

"4th grade hellfire and able to tare souls away from their bodies, get in the way of this guy and you would be in great peril, brother." said the anthro wolf firmly.

"And why makes so sure he will help us?" the white eagle said.

"Because we can give him the one thing he wants more than anything…._his freedom_." said the anthro wolf.

The white eagle's eyes widened a bit in puzzlement, he was about to say something, but the anthro wolf continued on speaking.

"You see, he is bond to the deal he made for all eternity, he can't die, so he can't pass on to the other side."

"Not the sharpest tool in the shed is he?" said the white eagle.

"No, but he is very powerful and very gullible. If we can get the rattlesnake to work for us, we will have a better chance of winning this." said the anthro wolf.

"So what now?" said the white eagle.

"I want you to go and find this Rattlesnake Jake and tell him our offer, I am certain he will not refuse. He currently resides in the heart of the Mojave desert, near a town called Hell's pit." said the anthro wolf.

"Hmph, how ironic." said the white eagle.

"Go now." said the anthro wolf.

A little disappointed he got stuck with the job to find the rattlesnake; the white eagle took off in the air and flew further west, deeper into the desert valley. A few minutes later, the second angelic figure disappeared in a cloud of white mist.

Somewhere deep in the Mojave desert, a serpent like figure races though the dunes of the sand, much bigger than a rattlesnake, its scales bearing the color of black and white in a zebra like pattern from his head to the end of his tail. On its head he wears a sleek flat reamed red hat, along with several ammo belts strapped along its body that match the color of his hat and its tail ending with a Gatling gun attracted to it, very much like the famous Rattlesnake Jake processes and its eyes bear not the color of a bight hellfire, but of a deep blood red.

The kingsnake continues to race quickly through the sand when soon he notices he is being followed by several cowboys on roadrunners, but the kingsnake pays little attention to them and keeps on going.

As the cowboys get closer to the snake, one of them shouts out "we got ourselves a big one this time boys, round him up!"

Then the rest of the cowboys start to run on both sides of the snake, starting to surround it.

"Stupid mortals, they never learn." The kingsnake mumbles to himself.

As the cowboys get closer, they start to shoot at the kingsnake with the pistols, but the bullets seem to bounce right off him without any effect at all. Shock and surprise spreads on all the cowboys faces, not fully understanding what just happened, yet they continue on with their pursuit.

Next the cowboys try to rope the snake, but all their efforts end in failure. Then as one of the cowboys gets really close alongside the snake, the kingsnake quickly turns his head towards the cowboy, his eyes glow bright red, and instantly the cowboy burst into flames, in a few seconds the cowboy and his roadrunner are nothing more than ashes, not even getting the chance to scream in pain.

The other cowboys took on in complete shock and horror at what they just seen.

"Jeezus christ! What the hell wus that?" one the cowboys shouts.

Finally, the kingsnake decides to stop running and face the pursuing cowboys. The cowboys surround the snake and try to rope him once more, despite the horrors they just saw. One the cowboys manages to get a rope around the snake, but then the rope instantly bursts into flames, burning the hands of the cowboy holding on to it, the cowboy lets out a bloodchilling scream of pain.

"Fuck this shit! I'm outta here!" yells one of the cowboys and start to run away.

The other cowboys started to panic and run away too, the cowboy with the burned hands is unable to hold on to the reins of his panicked roadrunner and soon was thrown off. His roadrunner runs away, the cowboy ends up being left behind by his fleeing comrades.

The kingsnakes looks on to the fleeing cowboys and starts to speak "oh no, escape will not be that easy."

The kingsnake's eyes glow bright red again, and all the cowboys instantly burst into flames, soon reduced to nothing but ashes.

Then the kingsnake turns his attention to the last remaining cowboy on the ground, the cowboy too frightened to try to get up and run.

The kingsnake looms over the frightened cowboy and speaking in deep dark tone as if he was the devil himself "you will regret the day you tried to mess with **Bloodwar**."

Then suddenly the kingsnake quickly wrapped his coils around the cowboy, squeezes and twists the cowboy's body every which away, the cowboy hollering in pain as he does so. As the kingsnake twisted the body more, he managed to stick the cowboy's head up his own ass, quite literally. Finally satisfied, the kingsnake uncoils himself from the cowboy and left the mangled body in the sandy ground and continuing on his way.

In another part of the Mojave desert, in a shabby saloon in the small town, a young female coyote sits at the bar, drinking down a tall glass of cactus juice. The saloon is not busy very at the moment, with only one other person at the bar and a few other folks in the back playing a game of cards at a small table. At one table sits a mother ground squirrel and her son by themselves, the mother is peacefully reading a book, while her son is drawing with a pencil on a small piece of paper. The little boy then looks towards the female coyote at the bar and his eyes grow really wide.

"Ma, that lady over there as huge wings!" says the boy to her mother.

"Mmm-mmm…that's nice dear." says his mother not really paying attention to what he is saying and continues to read here book.

"No lying, ma! She really as them, she looks like an angel!" the little boy says again.

"Son, don't stare at people, it isn't polite." The mother said still not looking up from her book.

Now if someone else were to look at the coyote, they wouldn't find anything out of the ordinary about her at all.

The female coyote looks over to the little boy and narrows her eyes. Then she makes an invisible ancient symbol with her finger in the air in front of her, going unnoticed by everyone else around her. The little boy however, as if possessed by some unseen force unable to control is own body, picks up the pencil he was holding and starts to point it towards one of his eyes.

"Ma, that lady says I'm a sinner." The little boy says in an eerie voice as the pencil he is holding inches ever closer to his eyes.

Finally, the mother looks up from her book and sees what her son is about to do.

"Oh my god!" the mother screams in panic.

The mother quickly tries to take away the pencil from her son, but it's too late, the terrible deed has been done.

The little boy starts to scream in pain while the mother panics hysterically trying to get the pencil out of his eye. The bartender and other people in the saloon soon take notice of this and rush over to try to help them out.

Meanwhile, the female coyote takes the opportunity, gets up from the bar and leaves the saloon. Then she saddles her roadrunner placed near the saloon and rides out of the town.

Elsewhere in the Mojave desert, another dark serpent figure slithers across the ground in the hot afternoon sun, his scales bear the color of dark browns and greys, a sleek flat rimmed black hat resting on his head, several ammo belts wrapped crisscrossed along his body, he tail ending in a six barrel Gatling gun and his eyes bright and fiery like the deepest pits of hell. It was none other than the famous grim reaper outlaw of the west, Rattlesnake Jake.

Jake was on his way to the next town to restock on his ammo for his tail gun and get a day's rest from his traveling. Lately Jake I been feeling partially uneasy, he felt like someone or something was always watching him even though he knew there was no one there.

As he continued the slithered along, making his way towards the town, the uneasy feeling got increasing worse, soon it felt like someone was right behind him, quietly whispering his name.

_Jacob…. _

Jake quickly turned around and aimed his tail gun even though it had very little ammo left in it. Once he turned around, there was no one there; he looked out into the horizon and into the sky above, nothing there. Jake let out a snarl in irritation and turned back in the direction he was going. Now Jake was starting to wonder if there really was someone following him or he was finally slowly losing his mind to this desert heat. Either way, if someone was out to get him, he wished they would stop being cowards and show themselves, he had enough of mind games.


	2. Ch 2: seal the deal

*****so here is chapter 2 of my third rango fanfic story, in this chapter everyone's favorite asshole psychotic rattlesnake, siderwider, comes back. sorry they chapter is so short, the next chapter with be much longer.*****

Road to Damnation

Ch 2: seal the deal

In another part of the vast Mojave desert, a small town in the middle of nowhere is engulfed in flames, most of the buildings in the town are already been burned to cinders and the few buildings that are not on fire are badly damaged and on the verge of collapse. On the dirt ground round the town lay tons of dead bodies, men, women, and children, their blood splattered everywhere soaking the sandy ground. Not one soul is alive, expect for one rattlesnake figure that stands in the middle of the chaos and destruction. Its scales are rough and torn with age, bearing the color of a light brown with a much darker brown diamond shaped pattern on his back, a grey ruffed and torn hat with sharp serrated like teeth placed around the rim. Several black ammo belts are strapped along its body, and its tail ending in a very wore and rusty, but still useful Gatling gun. The figure glares at the scene before him with sinister eyes, one eye is normal and bears the color of a bright yellow, but the other is completely clouded over with white and as a huge scar over it.

Suddenly, another smaller snake makes its way over to the rattlesnake and saids "general sidewinder, there is very little food and water here, not enough to support the whole group."

The rattlesnake named Sidewinder turned his head towards the other snake and said "are you sure? Did you and the rest of the gang search over everything?"

"Yes, sir." said the other snake.

"Then we move out, round up the rest of the gang and get out of here." said sidewinder.

"Yes, sir. Ummm….which direction do we go from here?" said the other snake again.

The rattlesnake turned away from the other snake and looked out on to the horizon and then said

"There is one place left that we have not tried, another small town in this part of the desert called Dirt. Tell everyone we move further west. "

Then the other snake turned away from the rattlesnake and shouted "everyone, move out! We go further west!"

Soon enough, more snakes began to weave their way out of the woodwork of the buildings and out on to the dirt street, dozens of them, enough to make a small army, snakes of all different types that live in the desert, but most of them are rattlesnakes. Sidewinder starts to move out of the town, with the large group of snakes following behind him. They make their way across the desert landscape towards the town of Dirt.

As they traveled, a voice soon echoed inside Sidewinder's own mind.

_Sidewinder, I need more souls then this to take form in the mortal world._

"_Trust me, you will get all the souls you need soon."_ whispered Sidewinder to the voice in his own head

_Do not fail me, you know the consequences if you do._

"_I won't, my lord. Of course, I will be rewarded for my services to you?"_ whispered Sidewinder again.

_Of course._

In another part of the desert, far away from Sidewinder and his large group of snakes, another rattlesnake travels across the hot barren landscape, a rattlesnake the goes by the name of Jake. Jake starts to move away from a town he stayed in a day ago, he wanted to stay in the town just long enough to resupply on his ammo for his gun and get a day's rest for a another long journal to the next town. Jake never liked staying in one place for too long, considering he was a wanted outlaw and had a monster inside him.

Ever since the day long ago when he was cast down to hell and he made that deal from a serpent god from hell, he was forced to do a deed for him every so often that would change him into a monster of pure insanity and madness and seemed to be made of fire and brimstone from hell itself. When he changed, his mind became focused on one thing, to hunt down whoever had committed a terrible sin and needed to be punished for it. Also when he would change, he would lost all sense of awareness of what was around him, he didn't care who or what got in his way, as long as he finished the job needed to be done. Often after the change he would blackout, sometimes for hours and wake up not knowing where he was and what he did while he was a monster from hell. Not that he didn't like killing those that had it coming to them, still it was a great burden to him to try to keep the monster under control, it was both his gift and his curse. That was why he didn't like staying in towns or areas with people for too long, if he had another one of his episodes, hopefully no one would know about it, it wanted to keep this a secret as much as possible. Though it had been a while since his hellish powers were called upon, he still did not like to take chances.

As Jake continued to travel across the desert, suddenly a shadow fell over him and Jake instantly knew what that meant, a hawk is about. Jake quickly looked for a place to hide, but there nothing around that was big enough for a rattlesnake to hide under. Then he looked up into the sky, he saw the hawk flying high in the sky, Jake's first thought was to run, but then he thought again, that would only make the situation worse, the hawk would surely spot him. So he decided just sink low to the ground and stay still, maybe the hawk would not see him, but it did no good. The hawk started to descend from the sky, but not quickly as if it were making an attack, more slowly as if it was going to just land.

Jake decided to make a stand and coiled his body up in a defensive position and aimed his fully loaded tail gun at the descending hawk. As the bird got closer to the ground, Jake soon saw it was much bigger then a hawk and not a hawk at all, Jake soon got very scared of this strange new bird, but it was too late to try and run now. Soon enough the large bird landed on the ground a few feet away from the snake and Jake was utterly baffled by what he saw. The large bird in front of him had feathers that were the color of pure white and on its head it swore a helmet of silver armor with gold making and designs on it along with pieces of silver and gold armor on its legs and feet.

"Now I have seen everything." said Jake to himself.

The large bird just seemed to stare at Jake with a piecing glare, as if it was studying him. Jake continued to stay in his defensive position and his gun aimed at the bird, he still didn't know if this stranger was friend or foe.

Finally the large bird spoke "are you the one they call rattlesnake Jake?"

"Yeah, so what of it?" said Jake.

"I have business I want to discuss with you" said the eagle.

"And what business would that be?" Jake said more angrily, trying to sound intimidating.

"First of all, answer me this, do you like having that curse placed upon you?" said the eagle.

Jake's eyes went wide and he said "how the hell do you know about that?"

"I am an agent from heaven; I know everything there is know about you." The eagle said.

At first, Jake would think this bird was loony and would not believe a word he saids, but considering he met a demi-god from hell not too long ago, nothing was unbelievable to him now.

"Now I ask again, answer my question." The eagle spoke again firmly.

Jake suddenly gave the eagle a very anger glare and started to shout "are you out of your mind? Of course I don't you stupid bird! Do you have any idea what it's like to turn into monster, unable to control yourself and killing anyone and anything I come in contact with? I hate it!"

"Then this job should be no problem for you." said the eagle again.

"Job? What kind of job?" said the rattlesnake in a calmer tone.

"There is a demon from hell here on earth that goes by the name of Legion, all you need to do is seek him out and send him back to hell. In return, I shall relieve you of your curse." the eagle said.

Jake's eyes went wide again "you can do that?"

"I have powers beyond your understanding, I can do anything." said the eagle.

"So is that it, just send this demon guy back to hell and you will get rid of my curse?" said Jake.

"yes, but there are other things you should be aware of, firstly, Legion is weak here on earth and as no body of his own, so he hosts the body of another to remain here in the mortal world. As far as we known, the demon soul resides in a rattlesnake by the name of Sidewinder." The eagle starts to explain.

Jake's eyes went wide again at that name, then eyes gave out the most sinister glare and he bit his lower lip so hard it bled and then he said "dam, I knew that snake was up to no good."

"Oh, you two have history?" said the eagle.

"You could say that." Jake said.

"Good, it will make the job all the more easier." said the eagle.

"Now, secondly, there are two persons you should be aware of, they are agents spent from both heaven and hell to go after legion. One is a kingsnake demon by the name of Bloodwar, the other is a archangel coyote by the name of Ruth, one of the worst." The eagle explained further.

"The worst?" Jake said in puzzlement.

"You see, in heaven, there are angels and then there are archangels. Unlike other angels who do not believe in violence of any kind, archangels are the complete opposite and will do whatever is necessary to complete their mission and they don't care who gets in their way." The eagle said again.

"If you already have guys to go after this demon guy, why need me?" Jake said.

"Because both sides want to trap the demon and use him for their own personal desires, if that happens, it would being trouble to either side. The balance between heaven, hell and earth would be disrupted and who knows was catastrophic events that would follow. Your job is to prevent this from happening." said the eagle.

"And what makes you think I can take the demon down?" said Jake sarcastically.

"You have powers from hell don't you? Why not put them to good use? Besides, if you reach Legion before he takes on a body of his own, he will be easy to defeat." said the eagle.

"One last thing, how can I be sure I can trust you?" said Jake narrowing his eyes at the eagle.

"I am angel from heaven, is that not enough?" said the eagle scowling.

"So if I hunt down this demon guy and send him back to hell, you will get rid of my curse?" said Jake.

"Yes, that is the offer." said the eagle.

Jake had to think this over a bit, he was very weary of making deal with other animals, even if they were angels from heaven, and he already had made a deal with demon from hell and that later proved to be a very stupid idea. He still did not trust this eagle fully, but then again he wanted to do anything to get rid of this curse of his, and the eagle was an angel after all and they can't possibly tell a lie.

After thinking it over a bit more, Jake finally said "deal."

"Excellent. I will lead on the trail to where legion will make is appearance; the rest is up to you. Go further west until you reach a small town." said the eagle as he pointed with one of his wings in the direction he told Jake.

Jake asked no further questions and immediately took off in the direction the eagle said.

Meanwhile, the eagle flew up into the air and quickly followed Jake.

Then the eagle shouted "one last thing, if you happen to run into Bloodwar and Ruth, they will most likely try to kill you!"

"Good to know." said Jake as he continued to race along.

After that, the eagle broke away from Jake, flew further up into the sky and disappeared into some thick clouds.

As Jake raced along the desert landscape, his thought went back to the eagle mentioning a town when legion would appear, Jake hoped it was not a town that he knew of, if it wasn't the town would be easy to take over, but if it was there would be a big problem.


	3. Ch 3: storm on the horizon

*****here is the next chapter, sorry for a long delay, I have been rather busy, much longer chapter this time.*****

Road to Damnation

Ch 3: Storm on the horizon

The town of dirt, now newly named mud, was now in a long period of peacefulness, even since the demise of the distrust worthy mayor of the town and a scrawny chameleon by the name of Rango permanently became sheriff of the town several months ago, everything in the town was actually quiet for once. All the gangs and outlaws left the town looking elsewhere and with the town having plenty of water now, more people started coming back to the town to start life anew again. Many of the building were still being rebuilt after the major flood that brought all the water here in the first place, but they were being rebuilt much better than they were before, the town was even expanding with more people coming to settle in it. The town of dirt even started to trade with other towns for their water, which in turn made this small town more prosperous than it ever was. Now that the town was such in a good state of things, Rango started to get bit bored with his job, not that he didn't like having the town without any trouble, still he wished something exciting would happen for once.

Rango was sitting at the bar in the saloon with beans beside him, drinking the day away with a tall glass of cactus juice, the liquid still stun like hell in his throat when he drank it, but he gotten used to it by now. The bullfrog bartender was quietly standing behind the counter cleaning glasses while some the folks in dirt where sitting around small tables either playing a game of cards or just drinking the day away and one person quietly playing a piano in the background.

Rango and beans sat in silence for a while, until Rango finally spoke "you know, things have been gettin' kind of dull around here."

"Really thank god, it is nice this town actually has peace for once." said beans are turned her head towards rango.

"I know, still it be good if something exciting happened around here once in a while." Rango said again.

"Like what? Would you rather have bad bill and his gang come back? Or even…..rattlesnake Jake?" beans said.

Rango gulped at that thought, even though he and Jake at come to a mutual understanding the last time they met, Rango still did feared the snake a bit.

"And just so you know, consider yourself lucky, you're the sheriff we have had the longest." beans said while pointing her finger at Rango.

"I know, I know, but still…..I would like something to happen." Rango said.

Suddenly, there were sounds of someone shouting frantically in the dirt street outside the saloon.

"Someone help! Please!"

Rango immediately got up from the bar in the saloon and rushed out to see who was shouting, beans soon followed after him. Soon enough all of the townsfolk in the saloon were curious has to what was going on and followed Rango outside as well. Rango soon saw a desert mouse on a roadrunner quickly racing into town, the desert mouse halted is roadrunner a few feet away from Rango. Rango could see sheer terror and panic was on the mouse's face.

"Whoa, what is a big problem, mister?" Rango tried to ask politely.

"Are you the sheriff of the town?" the mouse asked frantically

"ummm…yes, I am." Rango said a bit confused.

"Thank god, I desperately need your help, a town just out yonder is completely in flames!" the mouse shouted.

Rango let out a short gasp and soon said "where?"

"Just further east of here!" The desert mouse said as he pointed in the direction he came from.

"did you see what caused it?" said rango.

"No sir, I was traveling and just made my way into town for a quick stop only to find the whole a blazin'!" said the desert mouse.

"Alright, I'll check it out, thanks, mister." Rango said.

After that, Rango quickly rushed over to the stables in the town to saddle up on his roadrunner. Meanwhile, the desert mouse dismounted his roadrunner and sat himself on the pouch of the saloon, trying to calm himself down, he was still very distort by what he had witnessed. Soon enough Rango fully saddled up his roadrunner and was ready to ride out of town.

"Aren't you coming?" Rango said to the desert mouse.

"Oh hell no, no way am I going back there, that place be like hell itself." said the desert mouse.

Rango gulped bit at that thought, the last thing he wanted to do was go into a burning town by himself, but he was the sheriff after all, he had to do it whether he liked it or not.

Then beans approached Rango and said "that is okay, I'll go with you."

"No, you stay here; if there is trouble, I don't want you get hurt." Rango said towards beans.

Even though beans thought that was very sweet of him, she still did not like the idea at all of him going alone.

"But…" beans tried to speak again.

"I know, the first sign of trouble, I'm outta there." Rango said interrupting beans.

"Alright then, but be careful." said beans.

"You know I will be." said Rango.

After that, Rango mounted his roadrunner, lighted kicked his roadrunner in the legs with the spurs on his boots and quickly rode out of town. Beans and the rest of the townsfolk watched him go, hoping it was not last they would ever see of him.

Rango continued to ride on in the direction in the desert mouse suggested, he hoped he was staying on the right track considering his sense of direction was kind of poor in this barren landscape. Rango had not really visited many towns outside of dirt, so he was not even sure what the town he was looking for looked like. Finally, Rango saw some smoke rising high in the sky on the horizon, Rango figured that is where the town was and continued in that direction.

Rango soon did come upon the town he was looking for and once he got there, he was utterly shocked by what he saw. There was almost nothing left of the town, all of the building were reduced to nothing but small burning pile of lumber, most of the fire had already extinguished itself, expect for a small bit of lumber that was still burning creating the smoke. A small piece of lumber that was still standing suddenly collapsed and scared Rango's roadrunner a bit, but Rango quickly quieted him down again. As Rango walked further into the town on his roadrunner, he soon caught a whiff of a horrible smell, one smell that does not leave your mind once you smell it, the smell of death. Soon the smell got so overwhelming Rango wanted to puke, but he pressed on further into the town, he at least had to find out who was behind this. Soon he spotted several long thick line trails in the sand all around the town, he knew those to be the characteristic tracks of a snake, but he found it really odd to have so many tracks in one place, snakes are not known to travel in groups.

Soon enough, Rango came upon the most horrible sight of all, he saw them, dead bodies everywhere with their guts scattered over everything. They were men, women and children, at least what Rango could make out from their mangled bodies. Rango could tell the folks in this town had been dead for quite some time as their bodies started to decay into rotting corpses and crows and vultures had been picking at their bones. Finally, Rango could not hold it in any longer, he vomited, he had never seen anything so gruesome in his life. Soon enough, Rango couldn't take it anymore, and quickly rode out of the town to return to dirt as quickly as possible.

As soon as he saw the town of dirt in sight again, Rango slowed his roadrunner down to a walk, even though he was only away for short time, he was glad to be back in town and far away from the hellish scene he just witnessed. As Rango slowly rode into town with a grim look on his face, beans, who had been waiting for his return on the pouch of the saloon, saw him and rushed over to him.

"Well, how bad was it? Where there any survivors?" beans asked.

"No." rango just simply said in a sober tone.

"Did you see who done it?" beans asked again.

"No." rango said again as he dismounted his roadrunner.

Soon spoons came over to him, and Rango let spoons take his roadrunner back to the stables while he went straight to the sheriff office with a grim expression on his face.

Beans knew something was troubling him and whatever he saw in that town he did not want to talk about in public, so she decided it was best talked about in private. She soon followed Rango into the sheriff office, once she entered, she found him sitting at his desk. He took off his cowboy hat and rubbed his forehead firmly and looking very distort.

Beans was very concerned about him now and walked over to him and said "Rango, what did you see out there?"

At first Rango didn't answer, he was still trying to piece together what he had scene.

Finally Rango spoke "it was horrible, beans! There was nothing left of the town, the buildings had been burned to the ground….and…..that is not the worst of it…."

It was getting harder for Rango to form words as he spoke and beans could see it in his face.

"There was….bodies….dead bodies….everywhere…no one alive, it was a massacre." Rango said while putting his hands over his head and was getting more distort, also on the verge of crying.

"Oh, it was that bad. Sorry, you had to see that." said beans.

"How can someone do that? Do something so horrible? Kill dozens of innocent lives without mercy." Rango said as he pulled his hands away from his face.

"well, you have not been here that long, so you don't know how worse it can get around here, but I do, I have heard of this sort of thing before, large gangs of outlaws destroying entire towns just to get what they want." Beans said.

"That's what it looked like happened there. Oh and another thing, it looked like this was done by snakes. Rango said

"Snakes? But they usually don't travel in gangs." Beans said.

"I know, but I saw snake tracks everywhere there." Rango said.

"Do you think it could be….Rattlesnake Jake?" Beans said.

"No, this wasn't his work, besides I don't think he is one to start a gang or join one." said Rango.

"Is the town in danger?" Beans asked.

"No, I didn't see them heading this way, so don't tell anyone else about this, I don't want them to panic over nothing." Rango said.

"Okay, did you see anything else there?" Beans asked again.

"no, not from what I could see." rango said.

"Well, okay then, I guess I will you alone, but if you need to talk more about it, I'm here." Beans said as she over to the door of the sheriff's office.

"Thanks, Beans, but I'll be fine." Rango said.

With that, beans left the sheriff's office, she figured Rango needed some alone time to get over what he saw. Meanwhile, Rango continued to sit at his desk with his hands over his face once more, in truth he was not fine, he was in deep thought now, thinking hard of whether his job as sheriff was really worth it. He couldn't get those horrible scenes of that town out of his head no matter how hard he tired, he dread to think of what other traumatizing things it might see out here. Also his thoughts went back to those snake tracks, if there really was a large group of snakes out there and they ever did come to dirt, what could he possibly do?

Meanwhile, in another part of the desert, Jake quickly making his way across the desert, slithering faster than he ever have before, he barely even stopped to rest despite the intense mid-day heat, he wanted to get the town the eagle angel suggested before anything bad happened, he wanted to be rid of his curse once and for all and the only way for that to happen was to make sure he got the job done right. Jake knew he was on the right path, his instincts told him and the monster inside him told him too.

Not too far ahead for Jake, the kingsnake by the name of Bloodwar was racing along the same path, he was not in such a hurry and was not traveling as fast, he knew the destination on where he was going and didn't need to exhaust himself to get there. Jake was quickly catching up with the kingsnake and the kingsnake was unaware of the rattlesnake racing towards him.

"DAMN!" Bloodwar shouted out as he saw the rattlesnake speed past him.

Jake knew the kingsnake was there, but at the moment he did not have time to pick a fight with another snake.

Once the rattlesnake flew past, Bloodwar instantly recognized who the rattlesnake was.

"Well I'll be molested in a schoolyard, I know that fella!" shouted Bloodwar.

Bloodwar sped up faster too caught up with the rattlesnake and shouted "Hey! Hey, you!"

Jake just ignored the kingsnake and continued on his way.

Soon the kingsnake caught up with Jake and said "Ain't you that fellow named Rattlesnake Jake?"

"You know me?" Jake said in surprise and puzzlement as he turned his head towards the kingsnake.

"Yeah, a lot has been said about you in hell. You're the guy that made a deal with some serpent god in hell just to save your own hide. Where you off to in such a hurry anyway?" Bloodwar said.

"None of your business." Jake said as he snarled at the kingsnake and turned his head away from him.

"Pardon, but I would be obliged if you answer my question! Won't take but a minute to call headquarters downstairs to find out if you gone awhol or not." Bloodwar said getting a bit irritated with Jake.

"I…wait a minute, your Bloodwar!" Jake said in surprise as he just realized who he was talking with.

"Yeah, so what of it?" the kingsnake said.

Without warning, Jake lunged at the kingsnake, his fangs fully unsheathed from his mouth and aiming for the neck. Before the kingsnake had time to react, Jake bit hard, sinking his fangs deep into Bloodwar's neck. Soon the both tumbled along the sandy ground, Jake still clinging on hard to the kingsnake. Once they both finished tumbling, Bloodwar threw half of his body high into the air taking Jake with him with impressive strength, the toss made Jake let go and fall hard on the ground.

Bloodwar lowed his body back the ground again and shouted "what the hell, man? Are you off your rocker?"

Jake soon recovered from the fall and saw the deep puncture marks he made in the kingsnake's neck, but he also saw that the wounds started to heal up quickly by itself. Obviously, since this snake was a demon from hell, it was going to take a lot then venom to take this guy down.

Next, Jake tried using his tail gun on him, he fired a few bullets at the kingsnake, the bullets hit him dead on, but just like before the bullets wounds instantly healed right up, having no effect on him at all.

The kingsnake just lighted chuckled and said "stupid moron, it will take more than mere mortal weapons to harm me."

"listen, I don't know what your game is, but your seriously pissing me off, you better scram before I use my hell bold powers on you." Bloodwar said again.

Jake had to think hard and quick on how to deal with this snake, obviously his weapons were not going to work on him, he knew there was only one choice left and did not like it all. To call upon the hellspawn monster inside him and use his own hell bold powers, why not fight fire with fire, this snake was a demon and he was sort of a demon himself. But Jake was not entirely sure he could do that or even if he did, not too sure whether he could control himself from going berserk. Normally the monster only took over him when it was really needed, he couldn't call upon the monster to come out, but he no other choice, and he had to try.

Jake closed his eyes and concentrated hard, going in the deepest recesses of his mind to find the demon spirit inside him, Jake hoped the kingsnake was not going to make an attack, at least for a brief moment.

"What the hell is that rattler doing now?" Bloodwar said to himself as he stared at Jake just standing there.

Jake continued to search his mind, at first he found nothing but darkness, but then it hit him like a train, he could feel the presence of the hellfire spirit on the edges of his mind. Jake dung deeper into the place the spirit resided in hopes to communicate with it somehow. Soon Jake faced the spirit eye to eye and simply spoke.

Spirit, I need you.

That was all it took to bring the spirit out, it soon took over all parts of his mind. Jake immediately became to scream in agony, it hurt a lot when he transformed. His whole body soon felt it was being burned from the inside and out, soon steam and smoke began to rise from his body, his scales turned a more darker color, almost black. Jake's eyes became pupiless and glowed with more intense fiery light than ever before, like two pools of boiling lava. Suddenly, Jake's entire back ignited in flames, but the flames did not seem to burn his body. Then a long chain appeared wrapped his body in place where his ammo belts were. Finally, the transformation was complete; he had become the spirit of vengeance once more.

At first, the kingsnake looked at the rattler with utter bewilderment to what he just seen, but then an evil smile soon spread on his face and said "so what they say is true, now things are getting interesting."

Even though the spirit had taken over most of his mind, Jake could still feel the presence of his own mind, which meant he could control the spirit to a certain extent, but not that that mattered right now, he had only one goal in mind and that was to destroy the demon kingsnake.

"your travels end here, Bloodwar," Jake said in a much more deep demonic voice.

Jake soon fired off his tail gun, this time instead of normal bullets, they were streaming arrows of fire. Bloodwar quickly deflected jake's bullets with his own tail gun and started to fire a few bullets of his own, the bullets hit Jake dead on, but they seemed to have no effect on him.

"So your immune to even my bullets, huh?" Bloodwar said.

Then the kingsnake lunged for Jake, barring his fangs out, even though they weresmaller then a rattlesnake's, they still a powerful bite, but Jake quickly dodged out of the way and he blew a raging fire out his mouth at the kingsnake. Bloodwar did get hit by the flames and burned his body badly, but soon after his burn wounds quickly healed by itself.

"Impressive" Bloodwar said.

Bloodwar was about make another lunge for Jake, when suddenly he grabbed a hold of the chain around his body with his mouth, the chain became to unwrap around Jake's body and the then Jake swung the chain high in the air towards the kingsnake. Bloodwar didn't have to dodge it and the chain quickly wrapped itself around his body, burning his skin to the touch. Then suddenly Jake took off with surprising speed with the chain still in his month and became to drag the kingsnake along with him. Surprisingly, Jake could drag the bigger snake along the ground with ease. The kingsnake became to let out shouts of pain as his skin was being torn up by the rough sandy ground.

"Curse you, rattler!" Bloodwar managed to shout out while getting a face full of sand and dirt.

Jake's racing soon brought him very close to some train tracks, where a train happened to be going by at the moment. Jake quickly raced on past the train, completely ignoring it. Meanwhile, some of the passengers in the train cars saw the two snakes fly by and were in total shock and disbelief by what they saw. One passenger in particular spotted them and did not like what she saw, the female coyote soon got up from her seat and went to the back of the car and opened up the back door.

"Umm…lady, you can't do that." one of the other passengers said to the female coyote.

The female coyote simply ignored the person, shut the door and began to climb to the roof of the car. She walked along the roofs of the train cars until she came to the train's main engine. First his dived feet first in the car carrying the coal for the engine and then once she was clear out of the coal; she approached the two engineers driving the train. The two engineers turned around and looked at the female coyote in utter surprise.

"madam, how in the world-" one of the engineers started to say, but never got to finish his sentence as both engineers were roughly throw off the train. Then the female coyote told hold of the levers and gears that controlled the train and shifted them to make the train go faster.

Meanwhile, Jake was way head of the train still dragging the kingsnake along the ground.

"Just full of surprises, ain't ya, rattler?" Bloodwar managed to say.

"You don't live with this curse for few years without picking up a few tricks." Jake said while still holding to the chain in his month.

"Good, cus' I got a few up my sleeve too." Bloodwar managed to say.

Suddenly a huge long snake tongue emerged from Bloodwar's mouth and wrapped itself around Jake's neck, which in turn soon caused Jake to stop running. Soon they were both in a kind of tug of war with each other, the harder Jake would pull on the chain around Bloodwar and tighter Bloodwar squeezed with the long snake tongue around Jake's neck.

"Let go of me, god dammit!" Bloodwar managed to shout out even though his month was full at the moment.

"No, not until I kill you." Jake said while still holding on the chain.

"Why are so determine to kill me anyway? I'm not after you." Bloodwar said.

"You're in my way." Jake said.

"What do you mean by that?" Bloodwar said a bit confused.

Unbeknownst to the two snakes, the train the female coyote was driving was quickly catching up to them; the coyote shifted the gear to make go even faster. Meanwhile, the passengers the train cars in back were getting really concerned how fast the train was going. Soon the sounds of the speeding train down the tracks caught the attention of the snakes. They were surprised to how fast the train was going, but even more surprised to see who was driving it.

"Ruth!" said both snakes at once

"You know her?" said Bloodwar

"I know she is a killer archangel!" Jake shouted.

Suddenly, the female coyote named Ruth used some of her god like powers to lift the train engine off its tracks and fly thought the air. The train engine glowed with intense light for a few seconds and flew thought the air right towards Bloodwar and Jake. As the rest of the train was following the sailing train engine, the passengers inside the train cars became to scream and panic as they were tossed around like rag dolls.

"SHIT!" both snakes shouted as the train came hauling towards them.

Both snakes let go of each other and dodged out the way quickly before the train engine hit the ground. The harder part was dodging the rest of the train cars that were flying through the air, but the both managed to dodge them all unhurt. Soon the whole train laid out in one huge wrecked and twisted mess across the desert landscape, if anyone at all survived this train wreck, they could not be seen.

"Oh my fucking god! I can't believe she did that!" Jake shouted again, completely shocked by the scene he at just witnessed.

"Hmph. That women never did do things the easy way." Bloodwar just simply said.

"She tried to kill us!" Jake shouted

"I reckon she was trying to narrow down the opposition. Now back to our business, what exactly are you after, rattler?" Bloodwar said again.

"Who says I'm after anything?"Jake spat out

Meanwhile, while the two snakes were talking, the female coyote remerged from the wreck of the train engine with not a single scratch on her. Next, she tightly gripped a piece of metal from the train engine with her hand and then using her unbelievable god like strength, she threw the entire train engine with one arm like a toy, hauling towards the two snakes.

"Well, you said I was in your way, and I only have one job to do, so that can't be unless you're after the same guy I am. You wouldn't happen to be after Legion would you?" Bloodwar said.

Jake was about to say something, when his eyes looked towards the sky.

"BLOODY HELL!"Jake shouted with wide eyes.

Bloodwar turned his head towards the sky just in time to see the train engine hauling towards their heads. The snakes didn't have time to dodge it this time and were crushed by the train hitting the ground, this time the train engine exploded on impact, causing a huge fireball to arch up into the sky.

Now with her rivals seemingly vanquished, Ruth whistled and her roadrunner came out of nowhere from the train wreckage, just as unharmed as the coyote was. She quickly jumped on her roadrunner and rode off further in the direction she indented to go.

Meanwhile, back at the burning twisted mess that was the train engine, Jake finally emerged, bloody, broken and burned, but still alive. If it was not for his curse that kept him alive, he probably be dead right now. He winced in pain as his wounds became to heal themselves. Jake had returned to his normal form, his body no longer blazing like an inferno, the hellfire spirit seemed to have gone back into the deep depths of this mind for now.

"Holy shit! And thought Bloodwar was bad, this bitch is insane!" Jake said to himself.

Soon his wounds had fully healed and his body was good as new. Jake then looked over the train wreckage, he didn't see that kingsnake anywhere, and Jake hoped he was dead, but he knew that was more than unlikely since he was a demon. Either way, Jake did not want to stick around to find out. As Jake looked over the train wreckage a bit more, he was reminded of all those people on the train, none of them seemed to be alive, Jake did feel kind of bad for them. They were just innocent souls that had nothing to do with this, yet their lives were taken away because of it, but Jake could not worry about them now, right now he had to get to the town before Bloodwar and Ruth did. So soon enough he continued on his way in the direction the town was supposed to be.

A few minutes later, back at the burning wreck on the train engine, Bloodwar soon emerged as well, bloody and broken just as much as Jake was, but he wounds soon healed themselves too. As Bloodwar crawled away from the wreck, he could see Jake racing away on the horizon.

"Run all you want, rattler. I'll catch up to you soon enough." Bloodwar said.


	4. Ch 4: not easy being sheriff

*****sorry it took a while to update this, was away on vacation for a bit. Anyway, I'm back and here the next chapter, enjoy!*****

Road to Damnation

Ch 4: not easy being sheriff

The next day was partially hard on Rango, he was still a bit traumatized by the scene he witnessed yesterday, for him it was still hard to believe someone could do something so horrible, now he knew how that desert mouse felt after seeing it for his own eyes. Rango spent most of the day in his office, not wanting to talk to anyone, still thinking long and hard about his job as sheriff, wondering if it was really worth the trouble. Beans said scenes such as an entire town burning to the ground by outlaws was normal around here, if that was considered normal, he hate to see what wasn't. What a messed up place I live in Rango thought to himself. Rango soon thought of quitting his job as sheriff here and now, but if he did, who would take his place? This town certainly needed some type of law enforcement to keep the outlaws away. Naturally, the next candidate would be wounded bird since he made his deputy, but Rango thought not even he would have all the qualifications to become sheriff. Then he thought of all the people in the town, of Beans, Priscilla, wounded bird and all the other citizens of Mud. He remember when he first became sheriff they all put their faith in him to bring the water back, they all believed in him. Despite how messed up this place was, he did like being among the people in this town, it was much better than his previous life of being just stuck in a cage. They needed someone to protect them and too continue to believe in, so then Rango decided it was best to stay as sheriff, put on a brave face and bear whatever lay ahead of him, he wouldn't do it for himself, but for the people in this town.

Suddenly, Rango could hear yelling from out outside, he rushed out of his office to see what it was. It was another person fanatically running into town on a roadrunner crying desperately for help, which soon grabbed the attention of most of the town. Rango had no choice but to see what this fallow wanted.

The animal on the roadrunner soon stopped a few feet away from, Rango could see he was another desert rodent of some kind, but he was covered in blood, there were blood stains all over his cloths and had a horrible wound at one of his shoulders that was roughly bandaged up by a piece of cloth.

Before Rango had the chance to speak, the rodent shouted "please sir, I'm in desperate need of help! Horrible train wreck not far from here, several people wounded or dead!"

Rango face spread in shock once he heard that, of course he didn't want to go, but he had too, it would never turn down a stranger in need.

"Alright, stay calm! We'll help!" Rango soon said and then rushed over to the staples to get his roadrunner.

Soon everyone in the town got the news and anyone that was willing and able to ride out quickly saddled up on roadrunners, Rango quickly saddled on his roadrunner with beans in toe. Doc quickly brought his wagon out in case they needed to take the injured back to the town. Everyone started gearing up their firearms just in case there was trouble. Soon enough everyone was ready to ride out, and quickly raced out the town with Rango in the lead following the desert rodent back to the sight of the train wreck.

When Rango and the rest of his posse finally reached the site of the train wreck, they were all utterly shocked by what they saw, train wreckage and debris was scattered all across the desert landscape, and part of it was still burning in flames. There were people that were still alive and not badly injured frantically running around and dragging the more seriously wounded away or already dead from the train wreckage. As Rango and the others walked farther into the wreckage, they saw dozens upon dozens of desert animals sitting or lying on the ground trying to their nurse the wounds, some had really horrible wounds, one had a huge gash across his chest that was roughly wrapped in bandages while another had a badly broken and twisted leg and there were those that did not make it all, most of the dead bodies just lay were others managed to drag them out too before going off to help more people. To Rango's dismay there seemed to be more dead people then alive. It was all too much for Rango to bear, he was to the verge of making down again, but he remembered he had to stay strong; he was needed more than ever now.

Soon beans and others in the group dismounted their roadrunners and immediately went off to help whoever needed it while Rango continued on looking for someone to give him answers as to what the hell happened here. Soon Rango came upon a gentleman that was sitting on the ground that seemed conscious enough to talk too, despite half his face was bloody and wrapped in bandages. Rango dismounted his roadrunner and leaned down towards the gentleman.

"Pardon me, sir…" Rango started to say.

The gentleman practically jumped once Rango spoke and quickly turned towards Rango, Rango was a little taken aback by his reaction. Once the person looked at the badge on the lizard's chest, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"A sheriff, thank god." the gentleman said as he turned his head away.

"Umm…pardon me, sir, but can you tell me what happened here?" Rango spoke again.

The gentleman then quickly turned his head back towards Rango, this time with the look of fear in his eyes; like he had seen a ghost and he started to speak "T'was the devil's work I tell ya! One minute the train was going along fine, the next it goes flying off the tracks!"

Rango tried to remain calm and asked "did you see what caused it?"

"No, sheriff, I was in the third passenger car, no idea what went wrong up front, I'm just as baffled as the rest." Said the gentleman

Then Rango obviously knew he was not going to get much info out of this guy, but he tried to dig deeper anyway.

"Was there anything else you saw before the train went off the tracks?" Rango asked again

"Wait, now that I think about it, two snakes rushed by the train just before it went a flyin'." The guy said.

Rango heart's skipped a beat once he heard that statement and he soon spoke again "Two…snakes? What kind were they?"

"Don't know, they raced by so fast, I didn't get a good look at them, but-I don't know whether it was just my mind playing tricks on me- I swear one of the snakes had its body completely on fire!" said the guy.

Well, this was a new one for Rango, he had heard of some real crazy things out here on the desert, but a snake with its body completely on fire? A little too hard to believe, Rango then figured this gentleman was too traumatized to get any valuable information out of.

"Okay, thank you for your time sir." Rango soon said and then stood back up and walked away.

Rango talked to a few more people that he was able too, but they gave him the same answer, no one had a clue as to what made the train derail off the tracks.

Soon then Rango decided to start to investigate the train wreckage by himself, hoping it would give some clues to this mystery. Rango did find it odd how far away the train cars had scattered away from the tracks, usually derailed trains laid close to the tracks. Rango soon spotted the train engine, or what was left of it, nothing but a burning twisted mess of metal. Rango figured the train engine must have exploded, but what could have made it explode in the first place? It must have taken a serious impact to do that. He also noticed the train engine was further away from the rest of the train wreckage that seemed to be very odd too, this had rango completely stumped.

Rango soon searched farther out on the edge of the train wreck for more clues, he soon spotted a bullet lying in the sand, he picked it up and once he did he instantly recognized the type of bullet it was. This bullet belonged to Jake. Now Rango's worse fear was soon realized.

Through the course of the day, Rango, beans and the rest of desert animals in the group helped everyone they could that was horribly injured. Doc put as many of the wounded as he could on his wagon to be taken back to town, though those that could still walk would have to go on foot. As for the dead, there were so many bodies that they just piled them up in a huge pile and burn them, Rango thought that was a really gruesome way to go, but it would take too long to dig graves for all the bodies. Once everyone made sure all the wounded were tended too and all the dead bodies were disposed of, they all started to head back to the town. They went at a very slow pace to compensate for the badly injured going on foot, the journey back was made pretty much in silence, and no one said much to each other, not even Rango and they all had sober expressions on their faces.

Eventually, they made back to the town, the rest of the citizens in town were pretty shocked on how many of injured people brought back, but even more distort once they heard the news of how many did not make it. Doc immediately started tended to the injured people and properly dressed their wounds while everyone else helped them find a place to rest in the lodge in town or wherever there was a bed available. By the end of the day everyone was exhausted, both psychically and mentally, especially Rango, he had constantly make sure everything was going smoothly and nothing else bad happened. Eventually doc tended to all the wounded and they were all placed in a place to rest for the night. Everyone had a hard day, so they all piled in the saloon for a few quick rounds of cold drinks before they turning in for the night. Meanwhile, Rango was in his office thinking of what to do from here. First a whole town on fire, then a huge train wreck, what could possibly happen next? Rango sure hoped all this chaos would not come to Mud. He wasn't sure if he could take much more tragedy.

He took the bullet he had found on the ground with him and examined it more closely; there was no doubt about it, the bullet was definitely Jake's. Rango's worse fear had now come to pass, Jake could very well be the one behind the train wreck. But then Rango thought, could he really do something as horrible as this? He was an outlaw after all; he would do just about anything for money, but what could he possibly gain from derailing that train? There was no money on that train as far as Rango could tell; if he did wanted to rob it he wouldn't go as far as destroying the train and almost all the passengers to do it. It could have been another one of jobs he was hired to do by someone else, but who could possibly want to do something as horrible as this? Rango's mind was swimming with dozens of more questions, but it all came down to one thing, if Jake was truly the one behind this, Rango would have to arrest him and put him in jail. Rango hated to do it, capturing a snake of his size would no easy task, but he was the law after all, it had to be done. At this moment Rango felt the weight of the world on his shoulders, not only he had to continue to protect the town, handle a crisis of dozens of injured people, but now find Jake and make him pay of his crimes. Now Rango did wish he was back in his cage, when things were so much more simpler.

Suddenly beans came in through the office door, Rango quickly hide the bullet away, he did not want her to see it.

Beans approach him by the desk and said "Rango honey, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, beans." Rango said back.

Of course she didn't believe him for a minute and soon said "look, I know that was hard for you because you are not used to seeing that sort of thing, but I think you did okay today. You did everything you could."

"Yeah, I know." Rango said back.

"And if you really need someone to talk to, I'm here for you." Beans said once more

"Yeah. Thanks, beans." Rango said.

"You should come to bed, it's late." Beans said once again.

Rango had to agree, it was really late at night and Rango was way too tired to think straight about this situation now, so he hide the bullet in a safe place in his desk drawer and walked out the sheriff office with beans back to her ranch. Hopefully things would be better tomorrow.

When the nest day arrived, things were not much better, the whole town was swamped with caring for the injured train passengers, and many of them were in still in critical condition and seemed to be getting worse. Doc suspected many were not going to live much longer if not gotten better treatment. Soon enough Doc and everyone else agreed that this was beyond for one doctor in one town to handle, so they decide to take the critically wounded people in the next nearest train station where a train would take to a better town with a better hospital. Doc loaded up everyone he could on to his wagon and set off, with a few of the other townsfolk going with him just in case he ran into trouble along the way. Rango had to stay put in town, there was still a lot to be done here. He had to kept the townspeople from going into panic, no doubt the news of a whole town burned and a wreck train made them all very concerned of whoever was doing all this might come to Mud. The townspeople kept asking Rango questions on whether the town was safe or that he knew who was behind all this. Of course he would not tell them he thought it was Jake because that would only cause more panic. Beans was getting rather annoyed by everyone pestering him with questions, she knew Rango knew what he was doing and needed time to think, despite his mistakes in the past, Rango had gotten better at his job.

Again, Rango was sitting at his desk in the sheriff thinking of what to do next, now that the train wreck situation was almost done with, his priority now was to find Jake to find out if he really was the one behind the train wreck, but he had no idea where to start looking, Jake could be anywhere by now, and even trying to find a rattlesnake in this desert is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Plus if he just set off, beans would surely want to know where he was going and he didn't know how to tell her without the whole town knowing too. Yet again he found himself stuck.

Suddenly Priscilla burst in thought the door which made Rango jump a little, and she shouted "Mr. Rango! You're needed quickly!"

"What seems to be the problem, little sister?" Rango asked.

"A snake has been spotted heading towards town!" the desert mouse said.

Rango heart skipped a beat at the statement.

"Is it….rattlesnake Jake?" Rango asked nervously.

"Don't know, too far way to tell, but you better come anyway." Priscilla said.

"Alright, I'll be there in a minute." Rango said.

Rango did not like the idea of confronting this snake at all, but he didn't have a choice in the matter. He quickly took his pistol out of one his desk drawers and fully loaded it, even though he hoped he would never have to use it, but he wanted it with him just in case the confrontation got ugly. Soon Rango rushed out his office and out into the middle of the dirt street in the center of the town. The rest of the townspeople soon hid themselves inside the building fearing it was rattlesnake Jake again. Beans on the other hand sat outside the saloon with her shotgun ready, she was not going to be taken advantage off this time by a snake. Rango half hoped that this snake was Jake so he could finally get some firm answers as to what was going on around here, but he knew if Jake was the one behind all this things it would not end well.

Soon enough, Rango could see a silhouette of a serpentine figure on the horizon, Rango put up a brave face and stood firm with a hand ready at his pistol, ready for anything that might happen. But as the snake got closer, something was odd about it; this snake looked a little smaller and thinner than Jake with a different hat on, not the sleek flat rimmed black hat Jake always wore. Soon the snake was only a few feet from Rango and he got a better look at the new comer, the snake had a more traditional looking style black cowboy hat on its head, its body was more slender then Jake's with a lighter tan color to it and instead of a diamondback pattern, it had more of black spotted pattern. Black leather straps with metal studs in them crisscrossed its body instead of bullet belts, although one bullet belt was strapped its body further down and seemed to have a holster with a pistol in it. Rango also noticed its body seemed to be riddled was scars, especially a huge one around its underside. There was no rattle or gun attached to the end of its tail and its eyes had a more yellowish amber hue to them, not as piecing as Jake's, but still was a bit intimidating. This was clearly not Jake, but who was this stranger? Rango still stood firm, unsure whether this new comer was friend of foe. For a few moments Rango and the snake just seemed to stare at each other.

Finally the snake spoke "pardon me, mister, but could you help me?"

Despite the intimidating appearance of the snake, its voice was surprisingly soft toned; it was clear now this snake was female. Rango relaxed a bit and drew his hand away from his gun; clearly this snake was not a threat.

"Hello, miss, sorry about the rude welcoming, what I can help you with?" Rango said.

"I'm looking for someone, a snake by the name of Jake." The female snake asked.

Rango gasped a bit at the name, the female snake noticed it.

"Do you know him?" the female snake asked again.

"We've meet." Rango said.

"I've heard he has been to this town recently, have you seen him?" the female snake said.

"Umm… not recently." Rango said.

"Oh okay, then I'll be going, I won't trouble your town any more, good day sir." said the female snake has she turned away from Rango.

Then Rango quickly jumped in front the female snake and said " wait! I can help you find him if you want."

"Thank you for you kindness sir, but I can find him on my own. I don't want to cause trouble." said the female snake trying to get past Rango again.

"Nah, it's really no trouble at all. Besides he has been here before, it might come back again. You're welcome to stay here if you like." said Rango.

In all honesty Rango was unsure if Jake would ever come back to the town again, but he was curious has to why this female snake wanted jake so he tried to convince her to stay.

After giving it some thought, the female snake soon said "alright, I'll stay, but only if you help me find Jake."

"deal." Rango said.

Meanwhile, the rest of the townspeople who were hiding in the buildings were staring out though the windows at Rango and the snake, the two seemed to be talking normally and the snake was not attacking, so they figured this snake was not a threat and slowly came out of hiding.

Beans however soon quickly approached Rango and the snake with her shotgun raised and soon said in fowl tone "alright snake, what you want here?"

The female snake was kind of taken aback by beans pointing her gun at her, normally she would attack anyone that pointed a gun at her, but she did not was to be a threat to the town and cause any trouble, so she held herself back, but she did give beans an angry glare.

"Please beans, she means no harm, she is just looking for Jake." Rango said turning towards beans

"Hmph, all the more reason for her to leave." Beans said with her shotgun sill raised.

"Pardon me, madam, but I have no intention of harming you and anyone in your town, so there is no reason for your hostility. Once I find Jake I'll leave." said the female snake to beans.

"See, she even said it herself, so please put the gun down." Rango said to beans.

At first beans didn't do anything, but then a few minutes later she slowly lowered her shotgun and then soon said "fine, but I will be keeping an eye on you."

The female snake narrowed her eyes and hissed a little at beans.

"Sorry about her, we don't often get many visitors of your kind." Rango said to the snake.

Meanwhile, the rest of the townspeople started to crowd around Rango and the others, trying to get a better look at the stranger snake. The female snake tried to calm her mood has not to frighten the other townspeople, she even said hi to them to seem friendlier, but even so they were still a bit scared of her. Rango tried to lighten the mood by introduces the female snake to some the town's people.

Once Rango was done with introductions, he soon said "anyway, welcome to Mud, your welcome to stay anywhere you want, sorry we don't have many places for a snake your size to stay in."

"That's alright, I don't mind sleeping outside." The female snake said.

"Umm….okay, by the way, I don't think I got you name." Rango said

At first the female snake didn't answer right away, she was a bit hesitant to tell this stranger her name, but she figured there was not harm in telling the harmless lizard like him her name.

"Mona." The female snake said.

Once everything was said and done, the crowd of townspeople so despised and went back to their normal business. Soon after the female snake named Mona went into the saloon for a cool drink after her travels, of course she was nice to the toad bartender, and he gave her a drink without any question and she sat at an empty table in a corner of the saloon. Even though she didn't bother the other people in the saloon, the townspeople were still weary of her and she felt like her presence was unwanted, but she did not really care. She was not going to stay in this town very long anyway; all she wanted to do was find Jake and make him pay of what he had done. After spending the rest of the day in the saloon, she finally left it and looked around the town for a place to rest, she didn't mind sleeping outside, but she still needed some kind of shelter to at least keep the sun off her back. She soon found a small shack at the edge of town, it was empty, a little lopsided and just big enough for her to fit in all coiled up, it was not much, but at least it was something to get out of the sun. She slithered into it and coiled herself up in a tight ball, and soon after drifted off to sleep.

Meanwhile, somewhere in the desert not far from the town of Mud, Jake continued to race along the desert landscape, not stopping for anything. It was in the evening hours, it would be night time soon, but still Jake did not want to stop. Jake knew he was close to the town where supposedly the demon Legion was to make his appearance. He soon saw a town of in the distance and immediately raced faster towards it, but once he got closer to the town, he soon recognized it and froze in his tracks with his eyes wide. His eyes soon lay upon a town he hoped he would never see again.

"no…not here….not Dirt!" Jake soon said.


	5. Ch 5: The past hurts

****okay, in all honesty, does anyone care if i continue this story or not?**

**because honesty i don't have much motivation to write the story anymore. i don't really care for this story anymore. it was really hard for me to write this chapter because not only did things kept getting in the way of me writing this chapter, but i was suffering serious writer's block at points and i don't think this is my best writing. so yeah, i don't feel like writing the story on farther.****

Road to Damnation

Ch 5: The past hurts

Jake stayed just outside the town for a while, pacing back and forth, and thinking of what to do next, should he warn everyone in town of what was to come or just leave them to their fate? He really did not care for anyone in that town, so it did not matter much to him if any of them lived of died, but how was he supposed to stay around the town without being seen? Surely someone would spot him eventually, than Rango would surely find out and would surely want to know what he doing back in the town again. Then he thought of just getting it over with and killing everyone in town, if what the angel eagle said was true their all going to die anyway, but no that would not work, there were too many people for one snake to kill. Besides a lot of the citizens in that town had guns of their own, even though they would be too afraid to stand up to Jake and they bullets would not hurt him anyway, he still didn't want to take that chance. After thinking for a bit more, he had absolutely no idea what he was going to do and soon became very frustrated.

"Of all the towns in the desert, why did have to be this one?!" Jake said to himself.

Then Jake's thoughts soon came to Rango, come to think of it Jake did owe him from the last time he came to the town, in a way Rango saved his life. If Rango had not taken out that bullet from his gun at the last minute, the mayor would have shot him square in the face, not that the bullet would have killed him anyway because of his curse, but still it would have hurt a lot. Furthermore, Jake's true self would have been revealed and created a whole mess he would not want to get into. Besides Rango was the only person he had given mutual respect for, mostly just because he had done things no one else could do. So then Jake finally figured he should at least warn everyone in town of what was to come, only for Rango's sake. So then Jake continued on his way into the town, hoping someone would notice him right away this time.

Meanwhile, it was already the next morning in the town of dirt, most of the citizens in the town had already woken up and starting doing their daily business for the day. Rango had already ridden into town with beans and was in his office again, sitting at his desk, looking at the bullet he had hidden one final time. After thinking long and hard last night, he finally mind up his mind, he would try to find Jake and confront him about this, see if he was really one behind the train wreck. Of course he would wait until Beans was gone, he did not want her to find out, if she did she would surely try to stop him. His plan was to saddle up his roadrunner and leave town as quickly as possible and not tell anyone where he was going. But just as he about to get up from his desk to do so, someone burst through his office door again, it was the desert mouse Priscilla again; she was panting heavily as if she had been running and was in bit of a panic.

"What's the matter, little sister?" Rango said.

"Mr. Rango! Rattlesnake Jake is heading this way towards town!" Priscilla said after catching her breath.

"Are you sure it's him like time?" Rango said.

"No lying, it's certainly him!" said Priscilla.

Rango gulped a little bit and thought to himself "well, so much for that plan."

"Okay, don't worry, I'll handle him." Rango said.

Rango quickly got his gun and holster hanging on a hook by his desk, his gun was still fully loaded. He also took the one bullet he found with him too, to clarify if it was Jake's. Rango rushed out of his office and out in the middle of the dirt street. Sure enough he could see Jake slowly making his way into town. As Jake slithered his way in the town, the citizens started to hide in building and their shops fearing what the snake might do, but Rango stayed outside and stood firm, trying not to be so intimidated by him this time. Soon Jake was only a few feet from Rango and soon stopped, he said nothing and just stared at Rango intensely. Rango thought this was odd, he expected for Jake to be very talkative to make his entrance. For a few minutes they just stared at each other.

Finally Rango broke the silence and said "look, if you have come here to cause trouble again, I'm gonna have too…"

"I didn't come here to fight; I came here to warn you." Jake suddenly said interrupting Rango.

Rango was a bit surprise on what he said and soon said back "warn me? Of what?"

"Of a bigger danger that is coming to your town, far worse than me." Jake soon said.

"Bigger…danger? Like what?" said Rango nervously.

Jake paused for a bit, thinking of what to say, I figure best to tell the truth, but not the whole truth, so he soon spoke again "an another rather nasty rattlesnake by the name of sidewinder with his gang of other snakes with him."

In truth, Jake was unsure if sidewinder still had his gang with him since the last time they met, he just assumed he did.

"Wait; there is a rattlesnake worst then you out there?" Rango said finding a little hard to believe anyone can could worse than Jake, the grim reaper of the west.

"Yes, if him and his gang come here, they'll show no mercy." Jake said.

Then suddenly something dawned on Rango, he remembered the town that was completely burned down he visited a few days ago, he remembered seeing snake tracks everywhere in that town. Once Rango came to that realization, all he could say in his mind was "oh fuck…"

"ummm….can you tell me more about this sidewinder and his gang? Do they like…umm…set entire towns of fire?" Rango said even more nervously.

Jake fell silent and his eyes widened a little.

"Yes they do, how the hell do you know that?" Jake said while suddenly getting closer to Rango's face, Rango stepped back a little.

"Because a few days ago word got out a town not far from here was completely in flames, nothing was left of the town." Rango said.

"Dam, he is working faster than I thought." Jake thought to himself.

Than Jake spoke to Rango "Yes, that is no doubt his doing."

"Do you think he will do the same to….this town?" Rango said.

"Probably, that is why I came to warn you, you and the rest of the lowly folk in this town better get out while you still can." said Jake.

"Get out? You mean leave? But-" Rango started to say.

"Trust me, if you want to live, you will do as I say." Jake said.

"But we can't all just leave this town, people's entire lives are here and we have nowhere else to go." Rango said.

"When sidewinder comes, it won't matter; you all won't have a home anymore anyway." Jake said.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the town, Mona was still asleep in the small empty shake just outside of town, then she was suddenly woken up my all the noise going on in the town, she could clearly hear two voices talking. So she soon slithered out of her hiding place to see what all the fuss was about, and once she did, her eyes fell upon the person she had searching so hard for, Jake. Jake seemed to be talking to that lizard sheriff named Rango. Mona wanted to rip his throat out right now, but she thought it would not be a good idea at the moment giving so many people crowded around. She would stay calm and collected, shame and humiliate him and then maybe tear in his throat out. She carefully sneaked up behind him, Jake was so deep in conversation with Rango, he didn't even notice she was there. Soon she was right behind him and finally spoke out in the soft but firm tone.

"Hello Jake."

Jake instantly fell silent, his eyes went wide with shock, and his conversation with Rango was completely forgotten about. He instantly recognized that voice, a voice he thought he would never hear again. He slowly turned his head, hoping to not see who he thought was there, but as she came into his field of vision, it truly was her. For a moment, Jake just blankly stared at her, still unsure if whether she was real. Then suddenly Mona raced in front of him hearing knocking Rango out the way and got close to his face. Jake was still silent and blankly stared at her.

Finally Mona broke the silence and said "well, aren't you going to say anything or just stay silent like an idiot?"

"Mona….? I…." Jake tried to say.

"Well, if you're not going to say anything, I am." said Mona as she quickly pulled out her gun in her holster with her tail and aimed it straight as Jake's face.

Jake still couldn't find the words to say anything.

"I've wanted a long time for this, now you will finally get what you deserve." Mona said as she cocked her gun with her tail, ready to fire it.

Everyone in town, including Rango was in bit of shock to see the new stranger had suddenly gone from friendly to a ruthless gunslinger just out to kill Jake.

"Now hold just one minute there, no one is killing no one in my town!" Rango said while quickly getting in between the two snakes.

"This does not concern you, sheriff, so be gone." Mona said was looked down upon Rango.

"It does so, I'm still the law around here and you aren't killing no one while I'm around!" Rango said firmly.

"You better listen to the lady, sheriff." Jake suddenly said

Jake then suddenly picked Rango up by the scuff of his shirt with his teeth and throw him to the side, not enough to hurt him, just enough to get him out the way. It seemed Jake had finally broke out of whatever daze he was in a moment ago.

"Oh, so now you ready to talk?" Mona said sarcastically with her gun still aim at Jake.

Rango got back up from being thrown and he was about ready to intervene again, but this time someone held him back by putting their hand on his shoulder, it was wounded bird.

"No, let them settle this." Wounded bird said.

Rango did as he was told and stayed back, but it was really worried these two were going to kill each other now.

Jake then turned back towards Mona and stared at with an intense glare now, same as with Mona.

"We both know I'll shot you dead before you have a chance to pull that trigger." Jake said.

"We'll see about that." Mona said back.

Then for a few minutes, Jake and Mona just intensely stared at each other, both not moving an inch, waiting for each other to make the next move. Mona still had her gun pointed straight at Jake, despite using it with her tail; she held the gun as steady as a rock. Jake did not have his gun ready, but it would not take much for him to shot her either way. Suddenly, as quick as lightning, Jake lunged at Mona, twisted her tail with his own which made her drop her gun, then he tossed her gun to the side, quickly wrapped his coils around her and then finally held his tail gun against her chin. Mona was taken by surprise at how fast he moved, especially for a snake his size; she didn't have the chance to fire one bullet.

As Jake stared closely into her face and held his gun to her chin, he spoke "first rule of a gun fight, don't shot at close range."

As Jake squeezed tighter on Mona's body and pressed the gun harder into her chin and seemed likely he really was going to kill her, but at the last second Jake pulled his gun away from her chin and loosened his coils around her a little. Then he drew closer and whispered in her ear "don't do this, it will give you nothing."

Then Jake swiftly uncoiled himself from her and threw her to the ground and then he quickly slithered off. Soon Mona slowly lifted herself back up, coughing from the dust and dirt. As she lifted herself back up, tears started to form in her eyes and she slammed her tail on the ground in frustration, all that hard training she had done while on travels seemed to be for nothing, Jake was still better than her. How could she be such an idiot to point at gun at him at close range? She knew she was going have to be a lot smarter now if she was going to kill Jake, she figured it was best to catch him when he least expects it and his guard was down, but she soon realized when is his guard ever down? Never. She slowly picked up her gun lying on the ground and slithered away in defeat.

Rango and the rest of the people in the town were utterly shocked and dumbfounded by what they just witnessed. Rango was sure they were going to kill each other but they didn't, Jake could have clearly killed that female snake if he wanted too, but he didn't, why was that? First Rango had to calm down the crowd of the townsfolk and make them go back to their daily business. Once Rango was done with that, he quickly caught up with Jake.

"What the heck was that all about?" Rango asked.

Jake quickly turned towards Rango and got close to his face and said "did you know that female snake was here?!"

"Umm…yes, she came here just yesterday." said Tango nervously.

"Did you also know she was looking for me?!" Jake said angrily.

"Yes, but-" Rango tried to speak.

"And you just let her stay here?!" jake said.

"Yes, but she seemed rather nice when she came here." Rango said.

"Well, trust me, that is just an act, she's dangerous, you better get rid of her." Jake said.

"What is the deal with you two anyway? Seems you have history with her." Rango said.

"That's none of your business. Now I say again, get rid of her or I will." Jake said.

"But why?" rango said

"No more questions!" Jake snapped back, so loud that is knocked Rango to the ground.

After that, Jake turned away from him and quickly slithered off until he disappeared behind the bank. Rango picked up himself up and dusted himself off. It was obvious Jake had some kind of history with that female snake; he would never have reacted as he did otherwise. It was obvious Jake was not going to tell him, at least not without his head getting bitten off first. So he figured he try an ask Mona, she seemed a lot nicer then Jake, at least Rango hoped she still was. Maybe she could tell whatever went on between them. Rango soon went over to small empty shack she had been resting and sure enough she was there, coiled up in a tight ball with her head hidden under her body, and sobbing a bit. Rango tried to be very cautious with her so not get his head bitten off by her too.

"Ummm…pardon me, madam." Rango said as softly as he could.

Mona poked her head out from under body and said "oh it's just you, sheriff. Don't worry, as soon as I kill that rattlesnake, I will leave immediately. "

"Umm…yeah, that was what I wanted to talk to you about, why do you want to kill Jake so badly anyway?" Rango said.

"That is none of your concern." Mona said in firm tone.

Rango rolled his eyes in frustration; clearly he was not going to get very far with her either.

"Please miss, I need to know, if it for a crime he is done, I can handle that." Rango said.

Mona sighed, and then looked down case for a bit and then said "no, it's not that. If you really must know, let's just say he hurt me…deeply and I want him to pay for it."

"Hurt you? Did he beat you?" Rango asked.

"No, far worse. Now please leave alone, I want to get some rest now." said Mona as she turned her head away from him.

Rango decided not to press the issue in fear of making her angry, so he simply walked away from the shack. Rango really did not get much more information as before; all he had to go on was Jake had hurt her badly, most likely emotionally, but Rango soon thought what could Jake have done that was so awful?

Meanwhile, Jake was resting behind the old bank trying to get out of the sun and also trying to think of what to do next. Even though he really did not want to be in this town now, he had no choice but to stay in order to wait until sidewinder appears and finished the job he was given, but that was proving difficult, not only did have to deal with that annoying sheriff, but Mona was here too who was out for his blood. Jake could easily kill her if he wanted too, but he couldn't find it in himself to do it. Ever since he left the gang he had wondered what happened to her and wanted to see one last time to know if she was alright. Well, he got his wish, but he wished it had not come at such bad timing, he needed for focus on his job now, not on some past love, but she definitely had to leave town too, Jake did not want her tangled up in the chaos that was to come. But Jake knew she was not going to leave until she got her revenge. Jake thought maybe if he explained his side of the story to her why he left suddenly without coming back, she would understand better, but he knew in doing so he would have to reveal his secret to her. Jake thought if it was worth her safety, he would do it, but she probably wouldn't believe him anyway. Jake finally figured it was his best option and made his way through the town to find her again.

He searched his way through the town until he came upon the small empty shack she was sleeping in, she still had her head buried under her body was still sobbing a bit. Jake knocked on the wood wall outside to get her attention. Mona immediately lifted her head up and once she saw who it was, she scowled and hissed a little.

"What do you want? Try to kill him again?" she said angrily.

"No, I'm not gonna fight you, I just wanta talk." Jake said.

"I have nothing to say to you." Mona said as she turned her head away from him.

"If you let me explain…" Jake said while trying to move closer into the shack.

Mona suddenly reared up and got in Jake's face, making him back up a little and she soon said

"Explain what? Explain how you left him for DEAD?! Never came back after all these YEARS?! Or was that all part of your plan, to leave me hanging while you escaped?!"

"No, those were not to intentions. Now if you shut your yap for a few minutes and let me explain, you would understand!" Jake said.

"Hmph, I don't care whatever excuses you have." Mona said.

"No excuses, it is the truth, but you probably would not believe me anyway." Said jake.

"Okay, try me." Mona said.

Jake let loud a long sigh and started to stay "well, truth is I did die that day."

Mona's eyebrows perked up a bit as if both shocked and confused in what Jake had said.

Then Jake said again "do you remember the train robbery sidewinder made us do that one day?"

Mona brows pressed together and narrowed her eyes and said "clearly."

"Well, after me and sidewinder got on the train and you, Jackknife and Tajo were still chasing the train, a gun man jumped us, sidewinder engaged the gunman in battle, I did not. Then suddenly a second gunman jumped me from behind, I didn't have time to react so was shot and fell off the train. I didn't know what happened to sidewinder from there, but I assumed he survived the fight. Soon I was lying on the ground, bleeding to death, I knew I had to move quickly or I would die. I was in a panic at the time, unsure of what to do, so my first thought was to run. So I desperately dragged my dying body across the desert looking for a place to hide. Eventually I managed to drag myself to a hiding spot under some rocks, but by the time I got there I was too weak and lose too much blood, so I soon died."

After Jake finished saying those last words, there was a moment of silence. Mona's eyes soon widened on shock and was about to say something, but Jake stopped her and continued to speak.

"Unfortunately, my story does not end there, naturally after I died my soul was sent to hell for the deeds I had done, I expected to spend the of my eternal afterlife there, but by some strange twist of fate a demon serpent god of some kind decided to take pity on me and offered me a deal, he would give me my life back if I worked for him, sent souls down to hell for him. At the time I thought it was a good idea, but in hindsight it turned out to be a very stupid idea. The deal didn't come without a few strings attached."

Jake phased for a moment to collect his thoughts on what he was going to say next. Mona still stared at him in complete puzzlement.

"When I am called upon to do his jobs, take souls to hell, I turn into this monstrous thing, a demon from hell of some kind, my whole body becomes a flaming inferno and a loss all consciousness of my mind left with only one thing on my mind, kill. Also I can never die again, I can still be hurt, but I can't die. This thing is like a curse, the longer I bring souls down to hell, the longer I live, but the pain I often endure is unbearable. So that is why I never came back, I didn't want you to see me like this, see what I have become and I didn't want you to get hurt." Jake finally finished explaining.

When Jake finished speaking, Mona's expression changed to almost unreadable, she no longer showed surprise or anger she just blankly stared at him for a moment. Jake was unsure if was too much disbelief to stay anything.

Finally Mona spoke out "that is the biggest loud of rubbish I have ever heard."

Jake rolled his eyes and sighed again, he figured as much she would not believe him.

"Fine then, I will show you. Shoot me." Jake said.

"What?" Mona said back a bit confused.

"I said shoot me." Jake said again.

"I don't understand-." Mona tried to say.

"Just do it!" Jake shouted as he suddenly got up close to Mona's face.

Mostly out of fear and reaction, Mona quickly pulled out the pistol in her holster and shoot Jake square in his front side. Jake winced back in pain once he was shot; Mona was in bit of a shock at what she had done.

"Jake, I'm sorry!" Mona shouted.

"No…now you watch…" Jake said trying to say while enduring the pain.

Mona looked at his bullet wound and saw it did start to bleed a lot, but then she saw the bullet slowly started to push its way out until it was completely out of the wound and dropped to the ground, then the wound slowly started to heal itself. Mona also noticed during this Jake's eyes started to glow intensely brighter than before, his thin pupils becoming nonexistent. Mona started to get really scared of what was happening to Jake and of what was going to happen next. After a few intense minutes of Jake growling in pain and his eyes glowing unnaturally, it was all over, Jake's eyes soon returned to normal and the bullet wound was completely healed up as if was never there.

Jake then turned back towards Mona and said "now you believe me?"

Now Mona was pretty much shocked to speechlessness, but she still try to speak out

"Jake….I'm…I'm not sure what to say."

"Just say that you believe me." Jake said

"Yes, I do, but I still don't understand, how is this possible?" Mona said.

"What? Don't believe there is a hell?" Jake said.

"It is a little farfetched to believe, but I know what I clearly saw with my eyes." Mona said.

"Hmph, believe me, before I made a deal with the devil, I didn't believe it much either." Jake said.

"So, is that it? You died, were sent to hell, made a deal with the devil and now you come back has his personal servant?" Mona said.

"Yes, in a nutshell." Jake said.

"Well, while your intentions were good, you should of least got back at sidewinder for what he did to you, for what he did to us." Mona said.

"Believe me, you don't know how much I wanted too, but I was afraid I would not be able to control myself and you would get hurt in the process." Jake said as down case his head a little bit.

"While that is kind of you, I still can't forgive you." Mona said.

"Well, what about you? How did you get here? How did you escape from sidewinder?" said Jake lifting up his head again.

"Hmph. Like you would care." Mona said.

"I do! Now please tell me." Jake said.

"Well, believe me it was not easy, I escaped just by the skin off my back. I suppose I should start from the beginning, shortly after you disappeared during the train robbery, sidewinder came back to me, Jackknife and Tajo without you with him, he was furious that the robbery failed. We decided to go through with your plan even though you were not there, but sidewinder was too much for us and we were quickly defeated by him. He killed Jackknife and Tajo, but for some strange reason he didn't kill me, probably his own sick and twisted way of punishing me. He stripped me of my rank and just kept as his personal whore, I was nothing but a sex toy to him." said Mona as she lowered her head and closed her eyes, as if it was very painful for her to remember it.

Jake gave off an angry glare in his eyes; sidewinder had hurt her greatly. "How dare he abuse her like that!" jake thought to himself.

Mona soon began to speak again "after that, he went off to recruit more snakes and with no one to oppose him, it was rather easy. He mostly went after snakes that were abused, abandoned or outlaws themselves; he lured them in to join him just as easily as he did with us. Over the years, he gained more and more snakes to join him until he created a huge gang and he continued on his town raids."

Jake grinded his teeth and snarled, he looked like taking down sidewinder was going harder then he thought.

"As for me, during one of sidewinder's town raids while he was distracted, I ran to try to make my escape, of course he saw my fleeing and sent some of his gang members after me, but I was able to out run them. I knew I was not out of danger yet, so I just kept running until I could run no more, not caring which direction I was going. I soon came to a town, that thankfully I had not seen sidewinder's gang yet, the people in that town were surprisingly nice to me and gave me a place to stay for a few days. After that, my mind only went to one thing, you, how you left me to continue to endure the torment of sidewinder, he did hurt me greatly, but you hurt me even more for abandoning me, I knew you were still alive, so I decided to seek you out and get my revenge for what you did to me." Mona continued to say as tears started to stream down her face.

Jake no longer had an angry expression on his face, but now on of sorrow and regret.

Mona tried to collect herself to continue speaking and soon said "I knew I had to change my identity in hopes of not getting found by sidewinder, so I changed my name and got rid of everything I had. So from then on I went from town to town looking for you and avoiding sidewinder at the same time, stealing whatever I could from people along the way. It was a long hard journey, but I never gave up, my drive to kill you is what kept me going. Finally, I got word you were recently in a town called dirt, so I went there and here I am now."

Jake still had the sad expression of regret on his face, he leaned his head down to hide his eyes under his hat.

Finally he said "I'm sorry, sorry I was not there for you."

Mona was quite surprised he would say something like that.

Then Jake soon took notice of a large scar on Mona's underside half way down her body.

"Let me guess, sidewinder?" Jake said lifting his head up again.

"Yes, it's from the day he almost killed me." Mons said.

"I promise, I won't let that bastard touch you ever again." Jake said.

Mona looked straight at him and looked into his eyes, she could tell he was serious on what he was saying, maybe she had be wrong about him, that he really did care about her.

Then Jake's expression turned to serious again and said "but now we got bigger problems, sidewinder is coming here to this town, which is the reason I came back here in the first place and if what you're saying is true, then this town doesn't stand a chance."

"How to you know that?" Mona said.

"Let's just say a little birdy told me." Jake said

"Look, if sidewinder is coming here, I need you to leave here quickly." Jake said.

"No, I'm staying, if anyone wants revenge on him more than you do, then it's me." Mona said.

"I don't want you to get hurt." Jake said.

"Please, I spend years being tortured by that snake and nearly traveled across this entire desert to find you, I can handle myself." Mona said.

"You may see some things you will not like." Jake said.

"What? Wait…you're not going to change into the demon thing you said you were, are you?' Mona said.

"Not sayin' I won't, if I do, you better stay as far away from me as possible, I might not be able to control myself, I could kill everyone and everything I see." Jake said.

"Oh Jake, I'm sorry this had to happen to you." Mona said as she nuzzled his nose a little bit.

"It's not your fault, it's mine alone. Hopefully when all of this is said and done, I will finally be rid of the god forsaken curse and be back to my normal life." Jake said.

Then Jake phased a bit as if it was hard to speak the next words "and if I do, I want to start over…..with you."

Mona gasped and was quite taken aback by him saying that, she never thought Jake truly did have feelings for her.

Mona then turned away from Jake, her head downcast and said "your hurt me, Jake, I don't know if I can forgive you for that."

Jake leaned his head down again in disappointment and said "I understand, but at least think about it."

Mona shifted he eyes back towards Jake, but still did not turn her head back towards him. She could see how sad he was. "I will." She soon said.

"If you're staying, you better be prepared to fight." Jake said.

"That I will be" Mona said back.

After that, Jake finally left the empty shack Mona was resting in and headed back to his spot behind the bank with his head hung low. Mona soon poked her head out and watched him go. She now knew that underneath all the anger and hatred, he was really hurting inside and that perhaps he had changed since they last met.


End file.
